Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 1, 1995 TAG: 9509010036
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
No matter how you cut it, connubial customs can cost cartloads of cash. But be glad you're not budgeting a bridal banquet overseas.
In Japan, the average cost of a wedding is more than $28,000.
The traditional bridal robe in Pakistan costs from $450 to $9,000 - several months' income for the average Pakistani household.
Don't forget the dollars for the dowry or the ``brideprice,'' the male equivalent, which still exists in many countries. This usually is paid in cash or gold jewelry, but in some places it's still pigs or cows. In Papua, New Guinea, it's often paid in yams.
In the past, the Turkmen workers of Central Asia relied on the layaway plan when paying their brideprice. Unfortunately, the bride went home to live with her parents after the wedding - sometimes for 10 to 15 years - until the final payment was made.
And talk about triple-digit inflation! Among the Mayan T'oj Nam of Guatemala, the groom's cash payment to a bride's family has increased 700 percent during the past 35 years.
In Sri Lanka, a middle-class groom's payment for his bride is around $10,000, which he hands over publicly on his wedding day. Anxious briedes-to-be have been known to pay the cash dowry themselves - under the table, so to speak.
(Source for these tidbits of trivia was ``Something Old, Something New'' by Vera Lee, published by Sourcebooks Inc.)
by CNB